The sale of homes worth more than £1 million has boomed by almost 100% in oil-rich Aberdeen it was revealed yesterday - while the rest of country continues to see declines.
Figures uncovered by estate agents Savills, based on the Registers of Scotland, show 87 Aberdeenshire homes worth more than £1m sold between October 2008 and September 2013, compared to the 44 between 2003 and 2008 - a rise of 97%.
Meanwhile, Scotland as a whole saw a 24% fall in the same period, from 839 to 635.
Faisal Choudhry, associate director of Scottish residential research at Savills said Aberdeen's soaring sales had been "exceptional", making up 19% of all Scottish transactions.
He said: "It is clear the economy of the local area and the success of the energy sector is the main driver of this growth. The strength of the energy sector is apparent in the origins of overseas buyers, many of whom come from locations such as Scandinavia, the Middle-East, Australasia and the United States."
Mr Choudhry also claimed two-thirds of the £1m properties across the Aberdeen area were in what he called the "wealth corridor" in the west-end of the city, Cults, Milltimber and Bieldside.
One of the most recent deals in Aberdeen was the £1.1m sale of a new-build in Bieldside, bought by a Malaysian-based purchaser.
A-listed Dunecht House near Westhill, Aberdeenshire, just sold for nearly double its asking price at £1.9m, while Inverenan House, in Strathdon, went for almost £1.1m.
These findings contradict the picture of the rest of Scotland. Sales of properties worth more than £1m in Edinburgh fell from 402 to 300, 145 to 103 in Glasgow, 32 to 10 in the Borders and 41 to 17 in East Lothian.
In Argyll and Bute sales rose from four to seven, while in West Lothian they stayed the same, at two sales in each period.
People living in Aberdeen buying property in other parts of the UK is up 76%.
But the vast majority of those buying "prime property" in Aberdeenshire valued at £400,000 and above, were from the local area, with only 9% coming from outside the country.
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